Sholing4 3Brockenhurst

Scorers :  Dan Mason 2, 46 & 87  Kev Brewster 27 /  Mark Barker 16, Scott Joyce 50, Matt Casey 68

Date : Wednesday 9th September 2015 - 7:45pm kick off - Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Sholing : Jordan Brooks, Kev Brewster, Jack Smith (Owen Roundell 53), Dean Faithfull, Dan Miller, Jamie Bulpitt, Barry Mason, Alex Sawyer (Tobi Adekunle 65), Dan Mason, Byron Mason [c], James Davis.  Subs not used : Breon Graham, Victor Odeyemi, Ryan Gosney

Yellow Card : Barry Mason

Brockenhurst : Callum Maher, Corey Cherrett (Toby Cuss 46), Jude Nwachukwu, Rich Hayter, Iain Calder (Jamie Betteridge 72), Jake Long, Callum Williams (Matt Casey 57), Matt Vokes, Scott Joyce, Elliot Richards, Mark Barker [c]  Subs not used : Richard Morse, Geoff Sim

Yellow Card :  Iain Calder

Attendance : 150

Man of the Match : Dan Mason

Referee : Matthew Russell  Assistants: Nigel Gibbens & David Morey

Dan Mason was the star of a 7 goal thriller as he grabbed a hat-trick and a late winner to propel the Boatmen up to 4th in the Sydenhams Wessex Premier.   The game was enthralling from the first minute to the last minute as Brockenhurst came back from 3-1 down, but Sholing just edged it at the end.

Team News: Sholing were without Lewis Kelly, Marv McLean, Pete Castle and the latest name on the injury list was Ryan Gosney.  Gos hadn't recovered from the knock at the weekend, so Jordan Brooks went in goal.  However, both Alex Sawyer & Byron Mason returned to the starting line up.  James Davis was pushed up onto the left wing.

There were some familiar faces in the Brockenhurst line-up. Jude Nwachukwu who was with Sholing last season, as was Elliot Richards in our Reserve side. Rolling back the years was Iain Calder in centre of defence. Iain manages our U16 Youth team who won the Hampshire Cup last season.

Sholing really took to heart the need to start games better by taking the lead with just a minute on the clock!  Jordan Brooks' long clearance down the right wing played in Byron Mason, who powered past the full back, into the area and his cut-back was met by the arriving DAN MASON to sidefoot home.   With our tails up, Sholing went looking for another, with the Brockenhurst defence being pulled one way and another as Sholing attacked down the flanks and Dan Mason was holding the ball up well in the middle.  

However, Brockenhurst showed some pace up front and equalised on 16 minutes when Matt Barker skipped past a challenge and from just outside the box, curled a lovely left foot shot beyond Jordan Brooks and just inside the far post.   The game was now even in both score and balance as Barker in particular used his pace to cause Sholing problems.  On 22 minutes, a Kev Brewster corner was headed narrowly over by Byron Mason, but the set piece specialist only had to wait a couple more minutes to show off his skills from a dead ball.  Some good pressure in midfield saw Dan Mason hacked down outside the box by Iain Calder, who picked up a yellow card.  In a central position, 25 yards out, KEV BREWSTER curled his effort over the wall and into the top left hand corner. The keeper got a fingertip to it, but it was too powerful to keep out. 

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Sholing were looking lively in midfield and more terrier like persistance from Jamie Bulpitt allowed him some space 30 yards out, but his powerfully hit shot, flashed across the diving keeper and just wide.  Brockenhurst had loud appeals for a penalty, denied by the referee as Dan Miller went in for a challenge, leaving a Brock player on the floor.   The end to end nature of the first half continued and following a cleared corner, the ball came back into the Brockenhurst penalty area where Dan Mason flicked it towards the bottom corner, but Maher did very well to spring low to his right to push it round the post.  HT 2-1

If Sholing's first goal was quick, our third was instantly from the restart!  With many of the crowd still returning to their spots, the few that didn't see Dan Mason's second goal, missed out on a great piece of finishing.  DAN MASON was played in behind the Brock defence, but out to the right hand corner of the box, but with the keeper rushing out to meet him, he chipped the ball perfectly over his head and it bounced into the empty net for a lovely goal.  Sholing should have been in control at 3-1, but credit to Brockenhurst, 5 minutes later they worked a good goal themselves as a dinked ball into the area was cooly dispatched by Scott Joyce.

Dave Diaper made two changes, bringing off Alex Sawyer & Jack Smith and bringing on Tobi Adekunle & Owen Roundell.  Brock continued to cause Sholing problems with the ball in behind the full backs. It was from one of these that Brockenhurst got the equaliser as a cross from the left flank, took a deflection that saw it hit the far post, but Matt Casey was there to knock it over the line.  Dan Mason continued to be Sholing's best hope of scoring as he hit a couple of snap shots wide.  Big brother, Byron also had a header saved as both sides pushed for a winner.  After a corner, the ball pinged around the Brock 6 yard box, with James Davis hooking it over the bar.

You had a feeling that someone was going to grab a 4th goal and thankfully for Sholing, it was to be us. With three minutes to go, a Kev Brewster inswinging corner was met with a powerful header that the keeper parried back out, but was nodded back goalwards and there was DAN MASON at the far post to stoop and nod it over the line for his hat-trick.  In keeping with this game, there were to be more chances in stoppage time as firstly Dan Mason went clean through, his shot beat the keeper, but skewed just wide.  Then Brock could have left with a point with the last kick of the game, as they found space in the middle of the penalty area, but their player put his effort over the bar.  FT 4-3

Photos by Ray Routledge (click an image to enlarge)

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